When I was a young'n we got a pass to ride the trains for free because my daddy worked for the railroad. This were during the depression when we didn't have the money to take advantage of this benefit. We did go to Jackson to visit a doctor what was good with children, for my little brother with asthma, and my mama would take us to New Orleans to visit a lady friend of hers whose husband worked for the railroad down there. We got to see the zoo and what they called the dueling oaks in City Park. They had these little boats that peoples would sit in and both paddle like riding a bicycle. My mama's friend was from a big Italian family down there and they would have the greatest picnics you ever seen. They had stuff to eat I never had heard of like Sarah Heartburn cakes and what they called wop salad. My mama told me I shouldn't call it that, that was only a name they could use. My cousin who was about eight years younger than me once rode the train all the way to Tucson, Arizona. He come back talking about cactus tall as pine trees, purple mountains, and deserts as far as you could see. It made me really want to go out there. I remember back then when I would see clouds way off in the distance just above where the earth met the sky, I would play like they was mountains. It kinda worked if I really used my 'magination.
Tomorrow: Sugar Bowl
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